GLOSSARY

Spirituality
Spirituality here is broadly defined, without favoring any specific traditions. Spirituality is concerned with matters of spirit and involves the non-physical realm. It dwells in all beings and exists in all aspects of the cosmos at all times. Its presence deepens an individual’s awareness of reality. The ultimate end of spirituality is a realization or an eternal connection with the true nature of reality.

Research findings suggest that spirituality is related to matters of emotional and psychological health, as well as, to physical health. Spirituality often focuses on personal experience and may involve one’s perceptions of life as being more important, more complex, or more integrated with one's worldview than the merely sensual perception (Wikipedia, 2007).

Healing
Healing, including physical, mental, and spiritual, is a journey toward the wholeness of a person. Here, healing refers to traditional medicine and its related healing modalities. CRISH emphasizes healing as dealing with whole person care and the practice of love and compassion in integrative medicine.

Health Care
Health care here refers to health prevention, relief of illness, and health promotion.